I rewatched Lady in the Water recently. The first time I watched it I took it at face value and felt like it was pretty stupid. I only watched it again because I was curious about a musical cue from the score.
And wow, did I TOTALLY miss the point of the movie the first time.
The whole movie is a giant metaphor about healing from trauma. Since the movie has been out for so long now, I figure spoilers are okay.
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The main character, Cleveland, loses his family and is severely traumatized and depressed.
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He discovers the lady in the water, Story, (who represents the issue of Cleveland's trauma, which has been repressed/submerged for a long time but has finally come to the surface and is trying to complete the journey) and he sets off to try and help her.
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His apartment building is filled with characters who each represent different aspects of the process.
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The film critic represents overconfidence and hopelessness (the guy thinks he's explored and seen every idea already). Cleveland's desperation for answers makes him trust whatever the critic says, which leads him down the wrong paths. Ultimately, the critic's end shows that not only was there something in life he hadn't seen before, but his confidence was his undoing.
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The Guild represents the people we surround ourselves with, to support us. The first (wrong) group are basically a bunch of stoners (lots of people will just turn to drugs and that whole group to escape but they ultimately don't do or talk about anything of value).
The second group doesn't do much except reach out and put their hands on Cleveland when he needs their support, which is sometimes all we need for friends to do for us - to be there.
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The Symbolist is the part of us that tries to find meaning in life. That meaning doesn't come from raw intelligence (the puzzle-solver), but rather from the man's son who finds special meaning in things that everyone takes for granted.
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The Guardian is the courage to face our trauma. When Cleveland tries his hand at the role, he's symbolically facing away from the monster, and trying to see it in indirect ways, which isn't truly facing it. Later, the true Guardian faces the monster directly, making it back off by staring it down. Eventually, the monster has backed away so far that when the stare-down ends, the monster is able to be dealt with for good. The character of the guardian isn't some hulk, but rather a regular guy who simply works every day to make just one part of himself stronger.
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The Healer is more straightforward, and the point of that role is that Cleveland was expecting someone else to do the healing, but ultimately he was the healer all along. The metaphor here being that the true healing comes from within, and only once we open up and start talking about our pain. As Cleveland's voice is breaking and we realize suddenly that he's not talking to Story but talking to his dead family, and finally letting out all his repressed grief, that's when the wounds begin to heal.
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At the end, Story doesn't return back to the water - instead she's lifted skyward, the issue symbolically finishing it's journey of healing.
Now that I grasp the symbolism and metaphors, it's actually a lot better movie than I first thought.
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/n0v3nb/i_totally_misunderstood_lady_in_the_water/
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